Pakistan; Story of a Confused Person!!!!

Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a story of an old man, after living over 60 years still trying to find out the real identity. Old enough to stand, suffering from various diseases, yet, not sure either he is a Muslim, an Arab Descendent, an Indus Men, a Sindhi, Punjabi, Pathan or Baloch!!!! At times he needs religion “Objective Resolution of early 1950s” to justify his existence to attach himself with Muslim Ummah. Barrister Aitazaz Ahsan tries to address the issues of Pakistani identity in his book “The Indus Saga and The Making of Pakistan”. He raises following questions; “Is the Pakistani an Arab? Or an Indian? Or something of both? Or neither? Are his origins entirely central Asian? What influence has he imbibed from Persia? How is he different from the Europeans who ruled him for almost one hundred years? Does he have a distinct personality or culture of his own? If so, for how long has he had this distinctiveness? Was it first created by the Partition of the sub-continent in August 1947, or did it pre-exist the Partition of 1947?' Text books justify the birth of the old man “Pakistan” on the basis of Two Nations Theory, Muslim and Hindus are two different nations with different outlook. However, two nations theory has already been buried when genocide took place in East Pakistan. Innocent Muslim Bengalis were massacred !!!!!!

Whenever I discuss with my corporate 'zombies' friends, neither they understand the background , the essence of independence nor they understand the dynamics of socio-political problems. Neither they read, know the historical facts nor they try to understand , see the big picture. Level of intellect is simply restricted to low quality sensational political talk shows. I doubt anyone reads the dawn editorials !!!! After over 60 years, people are convinced that we are still facing external threats i.e., India or at large Israel and always rely on Messiah i.e., Pakistan Army to ensure security and we end up choosing guns instead of butter (i.e., spending more on defense than development) Today’s problems are deeply internal than external, if Pakistan is mired with problems, most of them have been created by us, some by others but we have to solve them.

Dr Ayesha Siddiqa, the author of Military Inc, believes that we have to solve our problems before they become chronic. We have potential, but so do Somalia, Sudan and Rwanda !!!!

I share the same argument with my friends that stop believing that Pakistan is the victim of conspiracy theory rather rely on reasoning and analyzing the facts. We as nation always end up accusing everybody else for our own misfortunes.

Today is the Independence Day of Pakistan but a black day is being observed in Balochistan. Dr Siddiqa believes that “there was an insurgency in Balochistan that had resulted from 62 years of nonchalant behavior of the federation towards that province. The problem with us is that we have kingmakers and bureaucrats who do not allow a healthy relationship between the federation and the provinces”

 Internal problems are deep enough to shake the foundation of old and confused person, blaming others for ailment is not a remedy.

It is the day to think about underlying internal problems and reflect upon the negligence of over 60 years. Time is too short to wait for the old person to find cure for ailment about to turn into chronic disease leading to death. 14th August is the day to reflect rather than mindless celebrations.

Please, No Scarf & No Swimming in 'Burkini'

Hey, you all have heard about Burkha, you might be wondering what is Burkini, well it is a covered swimming costume designed to spare the blushes of Muslim women worldwide.

Today I came across interesting yet controversial news; it says “A French mother was banned from wearing the three-piece outfit at her local swimming pool”. First thought came in mind was, Ugh, liberal West is discriminating against Muslim women, later I read that it was banned not due to discrimination but it is simply a hygiene problem. I tend to buy this argument, because even people wearing shorts in the pools are also not allowed.

I still remember my interactions in Hot Jacuzzi, most of the members were not allowed to wear long shorts. I recall, one of my Italian friend raised his eyebrows, when a guy with long shorts sat in Jacuzzi, his response was “Ugh, why everyone washes their dirty laundry in this Jacuzzi”

Well, another issue that was in the media for long, was scarf ban, people thought its discrimination against Muslims. Later I read that French society has bitter past when it comes to religion. They not only banned Scarf but any religious symbol be it Star of David or Christian Cross or Sikh Turban, society in general feels display of religious symbol is against the essence of socio-cultural norm influenced by bitter past.

 The intriguing part is that these Muslims are allowed to take their plea to the court and fight it out with convincing argument. I am not blind follower of western social norms but if I compare western society with Muslims, I find Women are not as repressed in West as in Muslim societies. Just take the case of Pakistan, status of women is ‘in general’ merely a child producing machine. On the other hand if I look at Saudi Arabia, no other religion is allowed to perform religion in public!!!! yet we criticize west for not ensuring religious freedom. Don’t raise your eyebrows, let me share, US South, Biblical Belt is very conservative, Churches are all around but grand mosque is also allowed, Muslims are free to follow their religion ‘ agree after 9/11 things have changed’ but in general I found there is Justice and Freedom in west as compared to Muslims World. Give it a thought !!

Balochistan & Pakistan; Relationship Gone Sour !!!

Today i came across an interesting news published in New York Times on 12th August 1947, just two days before the independence of Pakistan.

It was intriguing to note that Balochistan along with Nepal had option to remain independent and both opted for it. However, Balochistan was merged “alleged that it was forceful invasion” on 27th March 1948 with Pakistan.

Here is the news clip;

On 12 August 1947 The New York Times published Pakistan's announcement which read: "Karachi, Aug, 11, 1947 [AP] - Among the congratulatory messages read to the Pakistan assembly today was one from United States Secretary of State George C. Marshall. An announcement from New Dehli said that Kalat, Moslem State in Balochistan, had reached an agreement with Pakistan for a free flow of communication and commerce, and would negotiate for decisions on defense, external affairs and communications. Under the agreement Pakistan recognizes Kalat as an independent, sovereign state with a status different from that of Indian states". [The New York Times, Published: August 12, 1947, Copyright © The New York Times

Baloch accuse Pakistan for invasion, as agreed that they would respect the independence of Balochistan.

Well, it is clear the Balochistan was granted a special status as compared to other states. One may argue, but after the creation of Pakistan, a lot of negligence took place on the part of central government pertaining to the equitable distribution of national income. Balochistan remained the most backward, this lead to political animosity and discomfort towards centere, leading to the militant reaction.

It is the high time that Pakistani state, immediately address the concerns of Balochistan, initiate dialogue and deliver economically on urgent basis. If we do not keep our house in order, others will get an opportunity to exploit.

Confidence building measures is the need of the hour, hope sanity prevails, before it is too late.

Men are NOT Monogamous by Nature!!!!

Last week I was amazed to be part of a discussion with my Pakistani friends about women and relationship. I was surprisingly walked away after listening to various thoughts and many convinced that a woman is merely a sex toy!!!! I was taken aback and started thinking about all that.

I have come to conclusion that men are sexually vulnerable. I am not saying as if I do not get enticed but I approach relationship beyond sex.

The discussions started, a married guy was stuck with his kid at a function and he was roaming around. The guy indicated to me that after having kids, one has to go through the hassle of looking after kids whereas mother opts for fun. Anyways, my reply was simple, if I don’t like looking after kids then I may not produce them.

After the discussion, many friends believed that if one doesn’t intend to produce kids then relationship with women is merely about sex. To me, a relationship is based on multi-dimension, which, to me is sharing commonalities and cherishing life be it a small moment to an intimate one. Lately, I shared an interesting fact with one of my female friend, it was bit surprising though, I noticed around me, 90% ‘not exaggerating’ of my married friends are not into monogamous relationship, most of them are informally into polygamy but rarely one would find any married women into polyandry. Ironically most of the guys boast about loudly. Whenever I talk about relationship, words like respect and intimacy comes in my mind, most of my friends simply laugh out loud and enforce a one night relationship and believe that its about physical relationship, rest is crap !!! I came across an interesting article it says “Men are NOT monogamous by nature, society forced them to be......for millions of years, men enjoyed sex with multiple partners, without any social pressure. Monogamy is a new phenomenon !!!!!”

Study says,“You see, in any animal species where there are few offspring born, and the infant mortality rate is high (as it is with gerbils, whales, dogs, giraffes and humans), the males are "wired" to seek multiple females for mating. This is how they help to insure that their genes get passed on to the next generation.

Interestingly, females are programmed to "pair bond" - that is, to try to create and sustain a monogamous relationship! By having a second adult around to protect, gather food, and raise their young, this is how females help to insure that THEIR genes get passed along as well!

In actuality pair bonding is a relatively new thing to humans - we've only been doing it for 5,000 years! Since we've been on this planet, (6 million years), we've been doing it "nature's way" for 99.92% of the time we've been here!

So, what does this have to do with porn or sex? You see, men (males) are compelled to try to mate with as many women (females) as possible. However, they want to try to meet the expectations of society by staying in committed, monogamous relationships too.

There are people believe that , don't try to force men to be monogamous - you're just going against nature, and his natural programming, and you know what happens when you try to fight nature - nature wins! Instead, simply be the woman for whom he chooses to be monogamous!”. Interesting read, give it a thought.

Independence Day, Are We Really Independent????

Whenever its 14th of August, I see euphoric Independence Day celebrations I end up questioning myself, are we really independent?? Today, at work I received an Independence Day flag ‘badge’ when I looked at the flag; I again questioned the term independence. Few of my friends believe that US celebrates 4th July, why shouldn’t we???? Since childhood, I had been reading that with the creation of Pakistan, Muslims of India ‘present day Pakistan’ got rid of Colonial British oppression along with the dominance of Hindu culture, religion and society at large. Text book historians believed that Muslims were treated as third class citizens, it was also believed that independence would ensure that peoples rights are protected, freedom would mean respect and people would be the master of their own density. When I grew up, and started reading history beyond academic text book, Initially I was realized that Pakistan was created on the basis of two nations theory but I witnessed “a country that had been ruled either by military dictators or authoritarian civilians who conflated personal with collective interest, ignoring the rights of common men in colonial fashion. Nothing changed for poor”. I lament, so called educated lot “including most of my friends” are oblivious to historical facts, they are not aware that “any system based on oppression, coercion and authoritarianism [is] the first problem in the way of writing history”. Pakistan’s history has been dictated by politics and the personal ideologies of autocratic rulers. Our ‘official’ history is riddled with prejudice, inconsistencies and huge knowledge gaps, so much so that there was a time when school textbooks made no mention of the break-up of Pakistan. Even today they offer no detailed account of the causes that led to the creation of Bangladesh — the cultural, political and economic marginalization of the Bengali people or the atrocities committed in the eastern wing by the Pakistan Army.

Independent account reveals that Pakistan Army committed atrocities, including the systematic killing of innocent political workers, intellectuals and rape of thousands of innocent women. Famous writer and Oxford Graduate Tariq Ali, writes in his book, Pakistan Army considered Bengalis, partially Hindu, they wanted to implant pure Muslim sperms in Bengali women so that they could become true Muslims. If we got independence on the basis of a separate Muslim homeland, then why did we commit atrocities in East Pakistan, why did we rape and kill them? Weren’t they Muslims? I still remember, few years before the creation of Pakistan, Quaid-i-Azam painstakingly explained the basis of the demand of Pakistan to Gandhi and he wrote "We maintain" "that Muslims and Hindus are two major nations by any definition or test of a nation. We are a nation of a 100 million. We have our distinctive outlook on life and of life”. I always end up questioning, what was that distinctive outlook, did it reflect in the break up of East Pakistan. Let us read the International media report, the way we buried the concept of Independence;

• Time reported a high U.S. official as saying "East Pakistan “It” is the most incredible, calculated thing since the days of the Nazis in Poland.
• Bangladeshi authorities claim that 3 million people were killed.
• The international media and reference books in English have also published figures which vary greatly from 200,000 to 3,000,000 for Bangladesh as a whole.
• A large section of the intellectual community of Bangladesh was murdered, mostly by the Al-Shams and Al-Badr forces.
• There are many mass graves in Bangladesh, and more are continually being discovered.
• Numerous women were tortured, raped and killed during the war. The exact numbers are not known and are a subject of debate. Bangladeshi sources cite a figure of 200,000 women raped, giving birth to thousands of war-babies.

Lets move on to current situation, minorities in Pakistan are falsely brutalized with Blasphemy sword, we have already witnessed mindless killing in past such as in Khanewal city and in two villages around 1,500 houses and shops were torched, 12 Churches, one Hospital and One Dispensary was completely destroyed and 12 women were raped. Recent Gojrah killing is yet another evidence of killing of innocent minorities. Are they independent in Islamic Republic of Pakistan?

Let me remind you folk, I always think about Quaid –e- Azam’s 11th August 1947 speech, just think about it in the context of present day situation. I remember reading, he said, “You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place of worship in this State of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed — that has nothing to do with the business of the State... We are starting with this fundamental principle that we are all citizens and equal citizens of one State... I think we should keep that in front of us as our ideal and you will find that in due course Hindus would cease to be Hindus and Muslims would cease to be Muslims, not in the religious sense, because that is the personal faith of each individual, but in the political sense as citizens of the State.”

Just think, are we FREE?????

I guess people are free in following sense, If i rephrase Quaid’s speech it would read following;

“You are free - you are free to loot and plunder, to take that which is not yours, and to build apartment complexes on land meant for parks. You are free to construct shopping malls on the sea-shore. The people of Pakistan don’t need parks and beaches. You are free to take commissions and kickbacks; you are free to siphon away your ill-gotten wealth into foreign bank accounts. You may have mansions and palaces anywhere in the world: that has nothing to do with the business of the state… in due course of time, you will be able to buy any government in power and return to the country as heroes. Remember, the people of Pakistan are morons and deserve to have leaders like you. So go ahead and plunder the country, you will never be punished, no matter how much you have looted Pakistan”.

Just think, are we FREE?????

People are unaware that East Pakistan like situation is being repeated in Balochistan, blame game was similarly used in East Pakistan case, as it is being used in the case of Balochistan.Resource rich province is the poorest, when people ask for due share, sardars are blamed, however, resources are distributed on the basis of population and Balochistan gets less than 10% of total national wealth. When they politically sit and talk with Mushahid Hussain or Waseem Sajjad Committee ‘formed by parliament’ to fight for legal and constitutional rights, a military dictator kills tribal elder and threatens Baloch that they would not know what has hit them. Is it freedom??? What is the difference between Pakistani State attitude towards citizen as compared to a colonial state????? 

As per Daily Dawn, in Balochistan, thousands of innocent political workers disappeared, over 80,000 men, women and children internally displaced and women like Zarina Marri 'allegedly' constantly raped and brutalized.

Just think, are we FREE????? I remember, one of my "the best" female friend, driving on Zamzama Street Karachi, an educated family rash driving in their SUV, when my friend protested they ended up threatening or insulting with abusive words. I am sure rich always walk away, she was right, when she mentioned that we are second class citizens. Just one question, if a feudal, influential person insult and slap you in front of your family while you are on the road, do you think you are free to bring the influential person to justice??? I am sure not….. Just think, are we FREE???? I would love Pakistan to be independent as per the wishes or vision of Quaid…..but somehow still I am not convinced about the Independence Day…….and celebration. 

Burnt Alive; Simply Barbaric!!! Aaah Image of Pakistan!!!

 Six Christians burnt alive in Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Such news depicts a picture, only few words come in my mind, mind-boggling and simply barbaric. Lately, I had been discussing with my Pakistani friends about the image of Pakistan in the minds of my foreign friends. I was trying to portray or share the true picture of progressive society of Pakistan, which is unfortunately not reported in foreign media. Such sad incidents make me and my friends helpless in carving an image which is progressive “still largely is”. Well, as per media reports “Six Christians have been killed in religious unrest in Pakistan's central Punjab, after days of tension sparked by the rumored desecration of a Koran”. The four women, a man and a child died as Muslim militants set fire to Christian houses in the town of Gojra, officials said. TV footage showed burning houses and streets strewn with debris as people fired at each other from rooftops. Officials said the rumors which led to the unrest were false. Desecration of any religious script is not acceptable but burning people alive on the basis of false rumor is simply mind-boggling and barbaric!!!!! Neither Islam nor progressive Pakistani society justifies such acts.

Hey Guys, Why Do You Stare ??? What are You Looking at Asshole??

 In Pakistan girls are stared to death, we love staring & it leads to visual harassment, annoyance and discomfort for girls. Today my female friends posed this question to me; in return I posed same to my male friends in the evening. My friends gave me a scientific answer; "guys are visually stimulated, and girls are emotionally stimulated. It all boils down to that.

Yeah, we all love a good backrub, but for guys it starts with visual stimuli.It's not necessarily a compliment that a guy is staring at you but it's just nature at work.

I have noticed girls reading sensual novels such as Sidney Sheldon or teenagers into M&B stuff and guys running after visual treat through erotic web sites. I have suggestion, If a guy just stares, all you do, let him stare, then there's nothing going on here. Meanwhile, catch his stare next time, look back and smile, don't look away: P

Jokes apart, I have noticed,closed societies are more hungry for glimpse of women, in open societies it is rare that people notice. Be it open neck, cleavages or skin tight top or girl in two piece bikini, it is rare anyone stares". Does this mean, answer lies in freedom????

One of my American friends shared with me that staring gets back to the sexual repression of Pakistani society. Staring is very socially unacceptable in the US and very often can illicit a response like,"What are you looking at asshole?" LOL

Another American friend believes that "here in the US when a woman looks at you its okay (they even pass a remark like...he's sooo hot) but when a guy does it, it becomes socially unacceptable. The western society is no better than Pakistani...women, they are all essentially the same wherever you go my friends. The so-called civilized ones are even worse. Men, in the US, do sometimes get an illicit response like "what are you looking at ASSHOLE?". And they sometimes get a reply like, "AT YOUR FUGLY FACE YOU BITCH" LOL"

My Nigerian friend BUNMI believes that "Interesting i think ur girls also need to stare back and stare hard well its not in ur culture to do that but if they adopt this the men will learn to take things easy.Men! MEN!! its just that we can't do without each other, the Mystery of life??Its in born in you(Men) to admire, ogle and stare at Gods Unique being Women(lol) u can't help it yea?"

No offense, these are just views of my friends, one may agree or disagree :)

Pakistani Nation is Living by Default!!!

It is easy to live by default, go with the flow just like Alice was lost in wonderland. Few days back, I came across a basic yet an interesting concept, which says there are two type of people, one who live by default and other by design. People living by default, focus on area of concerns, issues beyond their solution or reach. They tend to blame others, always are reactive and never take charge of their life and always feel dependent on others.

On the other hand there are proactive people, they live by design, they are independent people, strongly believe that they make their own destiny , never blame and always focused on creating their future. Strong focus revolves around the things they can influence or change.

If I apply above on Pakistani nation, we tend to find reasons, at times blame Jews or American for the plight of present day Pakistan. What Taliban are doing, we blame that its infidel conspiracy to weaken Muslims. We are such fatalist, never take any positive step to create better future rather react, blame and remain dependent. At times we bring religion and blame NASEEB “Fate”, there are virtually thousands of reasons we invent. Nations exist by default, always remain dependent. Progress is all about independent thinking, taking charge, being pro-active, not blaming other and creating our own future with firm self belief.

I lament all is missing, when I look at Pakistan nation.

Judgmental; No Please!!!!

I love my evening jog in awesome serene surroundings with my cool friend and we end up discussing something interesting. Have you ever thought, why as a society we judge people, we look at the world with our own goggles, be it transparent, red or blue. These colors represents the biases, what we perceive, we store it in our mind, process it using our biases and experiences, in the end, form a big picture or a mental map about a person. Let me share, perceptions are always wrong, without knowing or putting one's feet into other’s shoes it is virtually impossible to get to know the real thoughts. Biases and past experiences are here to distort, and we often form an image which is far from reality and this would always weaken the relationships. At least I try to avoid judgments, try to communicate before forming judgment based on false paradigm. As a society we do not give personal space or freedom to other person, always poke our nose into others affairs and always try to be judgmental. If two friends ‘male & female’ going out for a dinner, all kind of fishy expressions initiate backbiting. No matter its friendly dinner or a date but we simply do not have patience to hold on before getting to know the reality. Immature societies or people rely on judgments, maturity believes in open communication.

Globe Trotting; Charlotte, Completely Exotic!!!!

Charlotte is one of the places which are exotic, different, serene yet urban. During my February US IVLP trip, i flew from Newark Airport , New Jersey for Charlotte. I was aware that it is somewhere in the South West of US, a laid back biblical town. The best thing about IVLP trip, it focused on diversity, my experience enriched through visiting exotic places. When we landed, whole place gave a serene look, boulevards with green surroundings. After half an hour drive, we reached the downtown, with high rise building such as Bank of America Head Office along with many sports complexes. One thing I noticed, there were so many steak houses along with many churches all around. Place gave a conservative look but it had its own charm. It is unlike any other place where one religion is forced to go underground if there is a strong presence of predominant opposing religion. Right in the middle of biblical belt, I came across a huge mosque; it shows the tolerance and harmony in American Apart from high rise corporate offices, I also noticed that there is sporting vigor. Our group ended up watching an NBA game, it was played between Charlotte Bobcat and LA Lakers. We were Charlotteans’ guest so we ended up supporting Bobcat, luckily tough LA Lakers faced the defeat I guess it was our influence and cheerleading for Bobcat heheh. I also came across an interesting thing, I found guys with heavy bikes, came across Harley Davidson store. Other thing I noticed, cars and 4x4 jeeps with lifted heavy tires, amazing sporty Dodge SUV look. We also had an amazing home hospitality dinner ; exchange with cultures and visiting an international school was amazing interactive exposure. Diversity is the true beauty of America, I miss it a lot.

Ahhhhhhh My Life!!!

Today I was posed a difficult question, it is about my purpose or mission in life. Whenever I think about personal mission statement, following words always come in my mind; To Live, To Learn, To Love and Leave a Legacy. At times I keep on mentioning to my friends, what if days are of 48 hours, to maximize living. Whenever I reflect on the word TO LIVE, one person RICHARD BRANSON, the Virgin CEO, comes in my mind. His words are so close to my heart, he says, “My interest in life comes from setting myself huge, apparently unachievable challenges and trying to rise above them...from the perspective of wanting to live life to the full, I felt that I had to attempt it”. When it comes to learning, I always have hunger to learn, to learn about people, culture, societies, visiting various places, exploring the hidden beauty of human civilization. At times Steve Jobs words occupies my mind “Stay Foolish & Stay Hungry”, I am so sure that its hunger that opens avenues. While thinking about the topic I also came across that there are area of concerns, well one may show concerns but very little one can change such as the overall country or socio-political behavior of individual. However, it is the area of influence we tend to ignore, the area where we can bring maximum change, be it small. When it comes to LOVE, I explore deep down passion for many things, be it sports, adventure, good food & I love my friends and family. As time passes, I ask one question to myself, what if I am 80 year old, throwing a birthday party and asking all my close ones to say one sentence about me….what would I like them to talk about me!!!!!!! There comes the question of leaving a legacy. I wish I fulfil my desires of living, learning, loving and leaving a legacy. I know it requires inner fixing and a paradigm shift along with can do approach and a lot of HUNGER.

Stop Backbiting; Evils of the Tongue

Backbiting is sort of our national sports, in general society loves it, mostly liked by women folks “let me be honest, very few women may not practice but its common, one may like it or not”. From social or ethical point of view, backbiting is looked down upon in any civilized society. Today, I came across to an interesting book written for Muslim Women “Nasihat Ul Nisa, The Advice to the Women”. Focus revolves around women and backbiting, it explains that hadeeth reported ;

“Do you know what backbiting is?”

They said: “Allaah and His Messenger know best.”

He said: “Mentioning your brother with that which he dislikes.” It was said to the Prophet (PBUH): “Even if what I mention about my brother is true?”

He (PBUH) said: “If what you have said concerning him is true, then surely you have backbitten him; and if what you said isn’t true, then surely you have slandered him.” Reading another interesting hadeeth says that “These are the people who ate the flesh of others (by backbiting) and trampled upon people's honor.” I just look around, our society loves talking in the back, backbiting and hypocrisy is the love in the town………so sad !!!!!!!

Globe Trotting: My Infatuation with Kuala Lumpur.

I never knew I could ever get strongly infatuated with Kuala Lumpur. Well, when it comes to countries, US is my first love, Japan a Crush and Kuala Lumpur an infatuation. Well, being a Libra, I am usually prone to crush and infatuations but the good part is that I always express my feelings. When it comes to love I am choosy, in life I just experienced one true love, one is US and other can’t disclose the name!! Come on...

When I was about to land in KL, I had an image that city would be like any other city not as fancy or developed as Seattle with skylines. When I landed at Airport I was pleasantly surprised to know that airport is the 13th busiest in the world and 7th in Asia. Exit was from terminal A to terminal B, I was thinking of a walk but I was surprised to see a modern aero-station used for inter terminal transportation.

I was there to attend the 13th Asian Chlor-Alkali Conference with a colleague from an associated company headquartered in Tokyo. I had to attend the conference, as well to interact with few Indian Traders as well executives from Indian Alumna Refineries.

Once I completed the exit formalities, I was surprised to see Airport Limo service, just got the ticket, small queue and limos were lined up. It took me hardly 5 minutes to get in the comfortable Limo. I loved the drive, all green Palm Trees across the airport, gave a tropical look, the most modern infrastructure surprised me. Saw people jogging around as well as cycling.

I checked in the luxurious Mandarin Oriental Hotel, one of the best in town, right next to Patronas Twin Towers. Well, first day afternoon, i was done with the meetings & refreshed. I was so desperate to explore the city, it was like, you see something and fall in love, and the desperation is natural. I along with my colleague, left the hotel to explore the shopping area, first we hit Petronas twin tower, I was surprised to see all international brands, first I thought as if I am visiting Macy’s or Nordstrom in US but I found KL malls much better than the ones I saw in Garment District in New York.

Next stop was Pavilion Mall, one of the most modern malls, with food court, Cineplex’s and designer shops. Later I went to Mid Valley, one of the mega malls. On my way back to hotel I saw KL Tower, similar to Space Needle in Seattle, Washington.

My female colleague made me visit hundreds of female shops, so I am sort of an expert after an extensive window shopping.

I learned that country has 13 states, with tropical climate, Malay being the major community followed by sizeable Chinese and Indians. One of the KL charm is that all cultures are living in Harmony. Giant Muslim mosques to Chinese and Indian temples, from China town to little India, is the beauty one would always admire.

Second day of conference we got done in the afternoon, got a cab and reached Genting Highland, KL version of Murree, the hill station. We reached there, whole place communicated one word THE CITY OF ENTERTAINMENT. It is a place on Titiwangsa Mountains on the border between the states of Pahang and Selangor. The place to me is Las Vegas of Malaysia, also came across legal casinos. Surprisingly I got to see a hotel with over 6,000 rooms, one of the largest in the world. Same place hosted famous Zee Cine Awards as well as Lux Style Awards in the past.

We had a lot of fun but my colleague was Burger King Aficionado, she made me eat BK, everyday, in the end I also fell in love with the Giant Fire Burger. During the night, I ended up drinking at one of the Posh Discos known as SULTAN, in the basement of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel.

It was weekend, my colleague had to leave for Karachi but I extended my stay because it was weekend and I was expecting my “United State International Visitors Leadership Program” friend Zaireen in town from Singapore.

After extensive trip all across in just few, I felt bit exhausted, I thought of spending few hours at the luxurious SPA, I went for Steam, Sauna, Jacuzzi and Swim followed by Massage.

In the afternoon, I chose the countryside and history trip option with the hotel tourism unit. First I visited Aborigines town, the original people, living topless, and the most primitive society living in tropical jungle. Got to see their museum and met few aborigines’ girls.

Later I went to the most interesting Hindu temple, known as BATU CAVE, it is dedicated to the Hindu Lord MURUGAN, cave is said to be 400 millions year old. To reach inside the cave, one has to climb over 270 steps. I joined Hindu Pooja session, got the PARSAD and well wishes. It was an amazing experience, complete tranquility and peace surrounded inside the cave.

In the evening I was back in the hotel, got a phone call from Zaireen, that she would see me in the hotel lobby. I was excited to see her after our US journey; I was glad to see her cute daughter Afreen and her hubby. She drove me to Saloma Theater Restaurant, located in the Golden Triangle, surrounded by breathtaking view of skyscrapers with the backdrop of magnificent Petronas Twin Towers. I was intrigued with the Saloma, Zaireen explained to me that “ Saloma is the name of lady, who captured the hearts of Malaysian, she ws foremost musician-actor, millions cherished her performance on silver screen, around three to four decades ago.

When I was in Thailand, I didn’t like the food much, but Malaysian taste, was yummy. Zaireen took me around buffet, it had both the combination of Malay as well as international cuisine, I came across . Assorted satay, rendang ayam, lemang, wok-fried mussel kam heong, sambal udang petai, daging masak hitam manis, ayam goreng mamak style, ikan panggang Portugis, Nyonya chap chai, roasted leg of lamb. It was Afreen’s first ever Saloma night, she seemed to be enjoying it a lot along with Zaireen. After food, the Saloma show, mesmerized with upbeat traditional and cultural performances. Saloma Dancers presented a selection of Asia's rich cultural heritage with contemporary and cultural performances. I was also amazed with Minangkabau, Chinese, Indian, Potuguese dances on stage with traditional colorful costumes. The dance medley depict different race, creed, tradition, culture and religion, the sense of respect prevails amongst all community in Malaysia. During the end of the performances, they asked if anyone wants to get bit of dance training, I ended up on stage, while Zaireen taking my pictures. It was one of the interesting short trips I would always remember……. When Zaireen dropped at the hotel, I just said two words I am “ Pleasantly Surprised” and simply infatuated with KL.